mutants
by traversing
Summary: After a particularly strange run in with something he definitely cannot explain, Percy discovers life is not what he believes it to be.
1. part one

**side note; a better title is in the works. **  
**this sort of sets up the story. also, you should know that i have a very basic knowledge of xmen - the only movie i've seen is days of future's past - and i basically just like the idea of xmen so we're gonna roll with that.**

* * *

In the grand scheme of things, Percy's stresses were a mere whimper coming from a rather small animal.

But he's not much of a global thinker, so instead he finds himself cursing under his breath as he presses his lucky pen to the lines of his crisp paper. The paper that will, in fact, basically determine if he gets into NYU, if he gets accepted into the marine studies program he's been working so hard for.

"You done?"

His eyes snap up to meet the receptionist's—no way was he going to take his application home, it'd be skittering on the subway tracks or lost underneath his socks on his bedroom floor before long—and she doesn't seem to be in a very patient mood. Percy'd been a tad late, and had only arrived five minutes before they close.

He replies with a "just about" as he grapples with a few basic pieces of information about himself. The fact that he temporarily can't remember his address should be worrisome, but in all honesty, he's surprised he's able to write down his short list of extracurricular activities he'd done in the last four years.

After messily scrawling his signature and attaching the most elaborate pieces - including various essays and resumes that he'd previously done at home - Percy places it on the counter that the receptionist had previously indicated for it go.

He bids his farewell in a quick manner, and just as hurriedly shoots out of the single door, hoping to make it to the station and onto the F train before it finishes boarding.

* * *

He barely misses the subway, and because he's not eager to wait for it in the underbelly of the city after five, he takes to the rather crowded streets above.

During rush hour, it's practically impossible to catch a cab, as well as expensive, so a few minutes of walking later, he's passing a small fountain, strangely devoid of people, aside from a young-looking couple sitting on one of the benches nearby.

Percy takes this moment to skim his fingers on the surface of the icy water, relishing in the almost energizing feeling he's getting from it. He closes his eyes, lets go of all the stress he's been having lately, with college admissions and various school works and the swim team and his mom and -

"Stop it!"

He moves even before he knows what he's doing, towards the source of the outcry. It was one half of the pair, the girl. She's backing away in fear from the tall figure in front of her—who didn't look at all like the boy she was with earlier, but Percy wasn't necessarily a very perceptive person.

He practically jumps across the girl, pushes her behind him, and faces her assailant. A big, meaty guy with a pair of dark, dark eyes. "What the hell are you doing?"

He regrets it almost immediately, or maybe his face does. With the punch he just had the pleasure of receiving, he'll be sporting a shiner for weeks.

It doesn't phase him, though; he's used to this kind of behavior. Growing up in Manhattan makes prickish jerks a pretty common theme throughout his life. With the guy being maybe twice his size, he doesn't hesitate before bringing his knee the man's crotch, hoping that will give him enough time to flee.

And that, of course, doesn't even make the attacker flinch. He keeps trucking, grabs Percy by the arm and practically flips him onto the concrete. As pain shoots up his back, he sees the man start to go after the girl again, who's frozen in fear a few yards away.

A roar fills his ears, kind of like when you're alone on the beach, with just you and the ocean, and it's all you can hear for miles. Percy doesn't know how it happens, but the man is down, completely drenched with water and now, somehow, unable to breathe, sputtering on the ground like a child trying to cough up all of the water after jumping into the pool by himself and forgetting to close his mouth.

Percy's able to get up even if the man can't, and he tries to find the girl, but she's disappeared. She must have gathered her wits and split.

As the man still hobbles on the ground, Percy isn't sure what to do, so he decides to get away from here as well. Hopefully someone else will find him.

He's nearly out of the general area when he hears a scraping—like steel or iron against concrete—and sharply turns to see the park bench pulled to where the man is, with one of its legs wrapped around his hands almost like a handcuff.

Percy's so confused, he looks around for someone—though who could have bent the metal that way, or even moved the nailed down bench?

Since he has no answer, and it's unlikely that he'll get one anytime soon, he slowly leaves.

Later, as he recounts the story to his mom over a dinner of pizza stretched out on the couch, he leaves out the moving and malleable park seating and writes it all off as a freak accident, one where there was no real explanation.


	2. part two

**side note; i decided to split the chapter in half, because it was much longer than this. but i couldn't find a good transition and this was it.**

* * *

It's funny how easily he forgot about the encounter, with the animated bench and strangely large man. But it's lost in the daily hustle and bustle that the rest of the city falls into.

Percy carries on, and in about two weeks time, he receives an invitation in the mail for an interview, an interview for the marine studies program he'd applied to. He practically weeps (except that he doesn't) with joy, and his mother is equally excited for him; she even makes a cake with blue raspberry icing and small candles, even though she used all the eggs they had for it.

So now he's here, at the offices in the downtown, waiting in the lobby for four thirty to come.

He's so incredibly nervous, and maybe he's tapping because the same receptionist from before tells him kindly to stop.

He laughs and apologizes, and soon enough, as the small clock hanging on the wall clicks, the woman at the desk directs him to the room he's to be taking the interview in. When he arrives, he doesn't see anyone sitting at the large wooden desk, even though the door was ajar and a lamp is lit.

Percy takes a tentative step forward into the room, and immediately the door shuts behind him. He's starting to think maybe he was part of the next major horror story and that he was glad he told his mother that he loves her this morning when someone clears their throat, in a sort of inpatient manner.

He spins around, and there is a woman standing in front of the door, with long, light hair that falls in natural curls and a pair of pant-covered legs that make her only a few inches short of Percy. She's crossing her arms, an unreadable look on her face as she untwines her arms and sticks out her hand.

He shakes it, and they exchange pleasantries; she introduces herself as Annabeth Chase, president of his desired program, but she can't be much older than eighteen or nineteen.

But even so, Percy doesn't mention his thoughts and instead seats himself in a large, leather chair as she moves to behind her desk. She perches a pair of reading glasses on her nose, and the same mask she was wearing minutes ago is replaced with something he _can_ figure out: curiosity.

She asks where he's gone to school, if he's been apart of any sports or clubs - Annabeth laughs when he tells her of his recent win at a swim meet - and ends up asking about his home life.

"I live with my mom, here in Manhattan." At her nudge, Percy continues to summarize himself—his father split when he was an infant, and his mother, to pay the billscouldn't cover on a cashier's salary, married a drunk who managed a small appliance store downtown.

As he speaks, he starts unconsciously shaking in anger. He hears a small sound, like water sloshing back and forth, even though there isn't a drop in sight. "He would beat her, and she'd let him because she knew it'd keep me safe."

Annabeth seems distracted, but nods and scribbles something down on her clipboard. "What happened to him?"

Percy explained how his stepfather had been walking down the street in Brooklyn when, almost cheesily, a statue fell out of one of the apartment windows somehow, and practically squashed him.

Unfortunately (or really, fortunately), he suffered from head trauma and passed away shortly thereafter.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth says, and looks like she's holding back from something, but she just grips her pencil tighter. "And how do you feel around marine environments?"

Percy smiles, glad that the conversation is flowing more comfortably. "I used to go out to Montauk every couple of weekends with my mom, and we'd stay in a little cabin on the beach." He closes his eyes. "It energizes me, like it's kind of my life. I'm so comfortable with it, it's practically home."

Annabeth nods again, then stands up.

"I'll have to run it through with a few people, but you don't have anything to sweat." She glances down at her papers, and contemplates something. Deciding to forgo whatever she wanted to say, she shakes his hand and assures him that they'll be in touch.

He says his goodbye, but before leaving he catches a gleam in her eyes—eyes that he was pretty sure were blue, but it was possible he was mistaken, because they're definitely a light shade of gray. Annabeth smiles warmly, and as he turns, disappears from his line of vision.


	3. part three

**side note; i know it's been a long time (for the most part), and i'm sorry. i'm awful with these kinds of scenes. the next part should be much better. and yes, the chapters are getting longer. no worries there. **

* * *

Five days, a senior essay, and an extra large, celebratory pepperoni pizza later, he gets a call from Annabeth. She wants to meet him downtown, at one of the millions of coffee shops in Manhattan.

So the next day, Percy's waiting in line at Caprin, a smaller and generally unknown place (he's never been to it before), and is about to give his order to the man behind the counter–who has some weird face tattoo that's definitely out of place here–when he hears his name being called.

"Percy!"

Annabeth comes out of one of the doors marked "STAFF ONLY" and takes off her short green apron as she nears him. Her face is flushed from the kitchen, her blond hair pulled back messily in a ponytail atop her head.

Percy can't stop himself from grinning stupidly at the sight of her, all rumpled and not nearly as put together as when he met her first. "It's good to see you."

"Just got off my shift," she says, then looks to the barista at the counter. "You know what I want, Chris. And whatever he gets, it's on me."

The guy–Chris, apparently–raises his eyebrows in surprise but nods, and soon they're given their drinks, a white chocolate mocha for Percy and a cup of straight black coffee for Annabeth.

He moves to sit down at one of the tables, but she waves him off and continues out of the coffee shop, onto the crowded sidewalks. Annabeth takes a calm sip as he struggles to catch up.

When he does, he walks on her right side so that if he trips then at least his coffee wouldn't get all over her, costing him the possibility of the getting in the program.

"So I went over it with the board," she starts, then glances over at Percy's nearly over eager expression. "And they said you're definitely in."

He almost cheers–okay, "almost" is an understatement, because he's pretty sure the old woman next to them just dropped her handbag in panic–and then frowns. "Is that why you wanted to meet me?"

She pauses a beat. "We need to discuss your living arrangements–" At his quizzical expression, Annabeth continues. "As you know, this program is a practicum course, which needs to take place in an actual marine ecosystem. Unfortunately, Manhattan is kind of short on these places, so we have an extended branch on the Long Island Sound. We also have locations on the Florida coast, Texas Gulf Shore, and on a few small islands in the Pacific."

"What does that mean?" Percy asks, still not really getting it.

She sighs. "To be able to do the program, you'll need to relocate, most likely to our New York house. We cover the cost for you to stay there, provided you pay for your food and other necessities."

He's in the middle of contemplating on asking whether or not he'd have his normal classes as well, but a scream rings out.

Now, people scream all the time in the city, but they're normally short and sweet. This is a bloodcurdling screech, that's still going, and it sounds close.

He looks at Annabeth, whose eyes flash, and then bolts to the source of the cries. She doesn't say anything, and when he looks back, she's gone.

Percy doesn't put any more thought into why she isn't there, isn't anywhere, because someone's in trouble. When he arrives at the scene, he's shocked; that man from a few weeks ago, he's there.

Now, it's broad daylight, so he can see exactly how large the form is – probably double the size of a lineman, but Percy isn't the best at estimation. And when the mammoth turns (like, actually turns so he can get a good look at it), Percy isn't sure of its gender. But whether it was a chick or a dude didn't matter, because it was doing serious harm to the man it's attacking.

He isn't really aware of what he's doing, but he pushes the victim behind him and takes hold of the thing's legs. Now, Percy is in no way strong enough to beat this guy, but he's able to at least shift its stance so it can't get a good grip on him.

"Hey loser!" Percy almost stops what he's doing, the voice sounds so familiar, and he wonders if they're talking to him and angry, it grabs ahold of Percy and nearly throws him.

The voice calls out again, "Pick on someone your own size!"

It puts him down, but doesn't give up on him. He's smacked across the street, near the edge.

"Dipstick, is that all you got?" That's Annabeth. How is it her, if Percy can't even see where she is? She bolted when the guy got in trouble–

He hears a "_oomph" _and a cry, and then something like a sack of flour hitting the pavement. Or maybe something like him hitting the curb. Even though he still can't see her, he's positive it's her, and struggles to get up. On his feet now, he rushes over to it again, and restrains from calling out her name.

He doesn't think, doesn't even know what he's doing but suddenly he sees a sewer nearby, and then water gushes out of the top of it like a geyser. The spray doesn't even come close to him, instead beginning to pummel the giant and force it to the ground on its stomach.

When he looks at his arms, he sees that they're instinctively directing the flow. After a few moments–moments that seem like hours–the thing stops moving, and he feels a hand gripping his shoulder.

"Percy, we need to go."

Annabeth's pulling him as she pushes through the crowd that formed, through the people that had pulled out their cell phones and cameras to capture the fight. Why they didn't run screaming, he didn't know.

Her hold on him doesn't relent, even when they're nearly two blocks away and out of the line of sight of anyone else. Percy can't find the courage to question any of it, from not seeing her until now (although she was definitely at the scene), why she wasn't covered in bruises, why _he _wasn't covered in bruises, and where she was taking him.

She probably figures out what he's thinking (is she telepathic or something?), and answers his unspoken question, "I'm sorry, Percy, but we can't stay here."

"What do you mean?"

Annabeth takes a look back at him, and suddenly pulls him inside a sandwich shop. After mumbling a few directions to the worker, they're both handed two six inches with a variety of meat, cheese and veg. As they sit, she explains. "We would've been fine if it'd happened somewhere other than in bright daylight in New York. But right now, Percy, you're in danger. We both are. So we need to leave."

"To where? Where are you taking me?" He puts down his sub, no matter how good it was, this was more important. "And what about my mom?"

Annabeth sighs, like she has to do this all the time. "We don't have enough time. But," she takes out a cellphone that could have been five years old, and dials a number before giving it to him. "Tell her that you won't be coming home. I'll send for someone to protect her, and to collect your things."

Percy holds the dinosaur next to his ear, and is greeted with his mother's frantic voice. While she tries to explain that she saw him on the news–what the hell was that, anyway?–he tries to keep from crying himself. He repeats what Annabeth told him, earning sobs from the other end of the line.

"Mom, I'm going to be okay," he assures, though he doesn't even believe it himself.

She sniffs, and Annabeth reaches for the phone after he says goodbye. She speaks in a low voice, so low that he can only pick up the last few words, "–he's important."

The blonde snaps it closed, then, as they're leaving hurriedly, tosses it into a trashcan by the door.

"We can't have them following us," she explains.

Percy scrunches his eyebrows. "Who's 'them?'"

Annabeth doesn't answer, but the glower in her eyes makes any other questions cease to be necessary.


	4. part four

When they're on the train, Annabeth makes him promise not to freak out.

"Couldn't if I tried," Percy mutters underneath his breath, earning a glare in the process. He leans back in his seat—the car is relatively empty, aside from a handful of single commuters and a small tourist family (the children squirming and asking for the handheld gameboy they're sharing between them)—and tries to stretch.

Annabeth sighs. "This is important Percy, you need to trust me."

He's about to say something along the lines of Why should I trust you? but he's interrupted by his face suddenly slamming into the steel in front of him.

"What the hell was that?" he asks, rubbing his poor, red cheek.

Even Annabeth is pulled forward with the jolt, and as she rights herself, she says, "I don't know." Then her eyes go wide, in fear. "Actually, I do. We need to get off this train."

Maybe Percy heard her wrong, because even though they aren't moving, they sure aren't going to be leaving anytime soon. He looks to the other passengers, who for the most part look unperturbed (though one of the kids appears to be completely focused on whatever's outside the window).

So he ends up asking "why?" and of course she answers so very clearly.

"They're coming."

It seems more of a whisper to herself than anything, frightening him a bit more, but then she turns to him sharply. "Is anyone looking at us?" He shakes his head no, and she stands up. Then she's gone.

Like, literally gone. Poof. Disappeared into thin air. Percy reaches out in front of him, in the space where she previously was. Instead of… well, nothing, he feels smooth skin and a denim hem.

"Careful," he hears Annabeth scold, and he inwardly groans, recoiling his hand. Of course she's still there, but how? "I'm going to get by you, and I'm going to open the left doors behind us. I need you to be close behind me. Be quiet."

Something rocks the train then, and he doesn't hesitate longer than necessary before heading to the exit she'd indicated. He walks slowly, trying not to attract attention to himself, and for once in his life, he doesn't.

By the time he's out of the train (thank god for a population engrossed with their cell phones and video games) he sees Annabeth next to one of the near by warehouses, speaking in a hushed tone into a speaker.

Percy catches bits and pieces of the conversation, and definitely decides that he didn't want to. She talks about escape routes and—did she just say monsters? He must have heard her wrong.

As soon as she looks up, she drops it all—quite literally, considering the fact that a shiny new Android, which she must of copped off the sleeping man a few minutes ago, is now in the rubble, probably cracked—and immediately runs over to him.

"Nothing got you, nothing saw you, right?" Then, when he assures her that it's fine, to herself, she mutters, "We're too far away from the bay, thank god."

Percy's about to ask what she means—why the bay?—but something catches her eye. Although she's obviously panicked, she takes a deep breath and says, "I need you to trust me."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

She doesn't answer, and he can't read her expression because she's gone again.

"Are you serious?" And of course, he yelps when he feels her hand wrap around his. He looks down to see if his palm is sweaty—Percy bets it is, it's gotta be—but instead it's disappeared as well. And his arm. And his other arm.

Soon enough he realizes that somehow he's invisible, too, but how? Annabeth, for some reason—though he's pretty sure why—squeezes his hand twice. He's glad she can't see his flushed cheeks. "When I say go, we need to run."

He wants to ask why, but she doesn't seem to be a person to make a mountain out of a mold hill, so he nods—wait she can't see that—and then intertwines their fingers. Hopefully she gets the message.

After a few beats, he hears a nearly silent "go" and then he's being pulled, to behind the warehouses. Neither of them speak, and save for the soft crunch of the gravel beneath their feet and their soft exhales, it's eerily quiet.

Then she stops, and Percy can imagine her rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet in anxiety. She still grips his hand tightly.

"Why are we stopping?"

The picture of her biting her lip, completely nervous, crosses his mind. "Did you see anything?"

"No, not anymore than last time you asked me."

He can practically feel her exhale of relief, and suddenly he can see her again; Annabeth stands, eyes wide and scoping out their surroundings, just to be safe. He finally finds the courage to ask (again), "What's going on?"

Dropping his hand, somewhat indifferently (he might be a little miffed about it), she sighs. She moves to a large pile of rocks, and sits precariously on a more singled-out slab of gray.

When she pats the space next to her, Percy realizes that she's inviting him to rest as well. As he settles down, she brings her knees up to her chest, looking so incredibly vulnerable right now.

After a few moments of silence, her voice startles him. "I'm so sorry. We never meant for this to happen."

_"We?"_

"Yeah," Annabeth says simply. Within a few beats, she's speaking softly. "You're special, Percy."

He asks what she means, and she looks at him incredulously. "Are you_joking? _Even in the very short time I've known you, you've done some pretty great stuff."

"What about you, you basically disappear!" He pauses. "What's that all about, anyway?"

She laughs, an infectious, resounding sound. "I was born like this, and you were as well."

"I can't turn invisible."

"No," she smiles, and even if it sounds ridiculous, the tiny sliver seems to brighten the entire situation. "When we came into existence, multiple sets of our DNA were changed. It happens often, actually, as all human beings have some sort of mutated genes. But for us, it changed our entire makeup. A gene that was supposed to code for the dermis, for me, was completely changed, along with a few other base codes that are pretty standard for us."

"I bet you were really good at hide and seek as a kid."

Her face seems to sadden at the words, but before he can rectify anything, she presses on. "The same thing happened for you. Except for instead of a skin mutation, it's likely it's something to do with the levels of magnetism that water sometimes has. I'm not sure."

Then something clicks in Percy's head, and he can't hold back from saying, "You said that 'we' never meant for this to happen to me. Who is 'we?'"

Annabeth looks up at him, the gray encircled by darker rings, her pupils nearly covering the rest of the expanse.

"The rest of us."

* * *

**a/n: cheesiest ending ever, i'm so very sorry. **

**also, i've had this chapter done and posted for forever, but i only really update my tumblr consistently. so if you actually like the story, and would like to know when it actually updates, follow this tag tagged/fic: mutants**

**next part should be up soon (believe me, the actual action is coming. i'm a sucker for build up). **

**have a lovely day!**


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